BIN men in Workington and the surrounding area will walk out today, after last gasp talks faltered and an offer failed to appease the unions.

60 members of Unite involved in the dispute are employed by Allerdale Waste Services.

The dispute is a result of what the union call the ‘poverty pay rates' the workers receive.

Loaders are paid £10.90 an hour, while drivers, who must hold an HGV licence, are paid £11.89 an hour.

Talks were held on Monday but they collapsed when the union claimed management refused to increase pay rates and instead only offered two extra days of annual leave.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Allerdale Waste Services can’t continue paying poverty pay to our members who are undertaking essential frontline roles.

“There is absolutely no justification at all to be paying rates far below what workers undertaking the same roles in neighbouring areas are paying their workers.”

The initial strike is from April 27 and ends on April 30. With the collapse of the talks, the strike action will now intensify, with further walk outs beginning on May 2 and ending on May 7.

There will then be a further strike from May 9 ending on May 11.

Allerdale Waste Services is a private company which was created by the former Allerdale council and is now wholly owned by Cumberland council which came into being on April 1.

Charles Holmes, managing director of Allerdale Waste Services said: “It is disappointing that the unions have taken this step to call a strike.

"The strikes are in the context of the workforce having been awarded a 10.1 per cent pay rise on April 1 this year.

"This equates to drivers being paid an annual salary of £27,508 and the loaders £22,165.

"The Union’s request of a 32.6 per cent (inclusive of the 10.1 per cent) increase for drivers and 19.2 per cent for loaders is completely unaffordable and is not able to be supported by the company.

“We have been in dialogue with Union representatives last week and this week.

"We have requested more time to be able to resolve the matter and a request for the strikes to be called off, which they have not accepted.

"We therefore have no option but to put forward contingency plans to try and minimise the impact on residents and businesses in the area as best as we can, however, we ask that people are patient with us at this difficult time.”

Workington MP Mark Jenkinson has weighed in on the debate, saying: “I have written to the finance portfolio holder to remind of her rush to harmonise council tax.

"I’m not a fan of asking for inflation-busting pay rises, as there’ll be no rush for pay decreases if we saw price deflation.

"However, this present situation is unjustifiable and across the council there are people doing the same job side by side for different pay rates.”